There's cool things happening at Nozomi Project -- even after hours!

We are thankful for the Liberty Music Project and the team here who are teaching music to the children in Ishinomaki .

This week Rachel has started teaching violin to five of our Nozomi kids.  One of them, Sena, has been learning for the past two years - read more about her and see the jewelry line named after her.  The other four are -- brand new violinists.  Things are still sounding a bit squeaky-- but we are excited about the potential in each one of these beautiful children.  

One of our favorite times in the week is when new shard pendants come out of the grinding room, ready to be cleaned and finished. They are usually still turned facing down.

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This morning it was Abe-chan's turn to do the revealing.  Lucky her!

It's so so fun to see the beauty that gets turned over.

Look at these amazing pieces:

Ready to get strung and hung... and make a lot of people happy.  The pieces on the right will all get made into Noa necklaces.  Which one is your favorite?

One of our special customers posted this photo of her new purchase - the Sakura charm bracelet.  A beautiful bracelet on the arm of a beautiful woman.  Thank you, Rie Wilson!  Choose your favorite framed pendant;  the charm bracelet of your choice, and your favorite charms.  

Hands down, our most popular necklace among our staff is the beautiful Ai line. The length; the style; the beads, the colors all make this a stunning choice.  And it's gotten even better!  We've increased the color options. Forty-four newly designed options. Choose your favorite here. 

 It was great fun yesterday to have a group of us representing the Nozomi Project at a local event created to help the various groups across our prefecture who are making and selling goods since the tsunami.  

Despite about 6 inches of snow that fell the night before, throughout the afternoon about eight of us were present from Nozomi.  There were a number of seminars on how to figure out your target customers and make appropriate goods, how to advertise, etc.  It was a great chance for Nozomi to sort of debut in the community.  Our manager Yuko S. did an awesome job representing our team!

About twenty five or so other groups were there, selling a variety of products from homemade soaps, scarves, Hawaiian-fabric handbags.... we shared a booth with the women who are making our kimono Bands of Love.  They are making other beautiful products out of repurposed kimonos.

What I loved the most about the whole event was the joy that our Nozomi staff had in being there, representing our Project, and taking pride in the work of their hands.  

I became teary-eyed in watching our staff take ownership -- answering questions, doing short interviews for some local media, and really being a team together. They have a lot to be proud of!   More beautiful things.